


a penguin taught me french back in antarctica

by faith_girl222 (faithgirl)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Alternate Universe - Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 18:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5137385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithgirl/pseuds/faith_girl222
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Major Evgeni Malkin becomes the ranking military officer of the Atlantis Expedition, working with Chief Science Officer Dr. Sidney Crosby (PhD, PhD).</p>
            </blockquote>





	a penguin taught me french back in antarctica

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my betas, lostlenore and fanofall, to my twitter cheering section who helped me get all the way through this, and to my artist axley jones.
> 
> title is a lyric from the weakerthans song "our retired explorer (dines with michel foucault in paris, 1961)".
> 
> a few lines of dialogue were directly lifted from sga 1x01&02 "rising".
> 
> see the end for additional warnings.

**Part One: Crosby**

Sidney isn't sure Taylor is ever going to forgive him for moving away, or mom for not letting her come with them to drop Sid off. It's only been three weeks since the incident; the contractor from the insurance company hasn't even finished repairing the side of the house Sid had kind of blown up.

Mom flies down to Minnesota with him to get him settled in. His parents found a hockey family for him to billet with, and one of their kids is almost the same age. Of course, that means he's still in middle school, and probably has never had a visit from the CIA (and definitely not CSIS).

His mom goes straight into the house to talk to his new billet parents, but Jack is kicking around a ball in the driveway, his expression clearly indicating he's sizing Sid up. He wonders what his parents told Jack's parents, what they chose to tell him. Usually situations like this go in the other direction, Sid convincing people a lot older than he is that he can be their peer, but he's a thirteen year old boy, he knows how to be friends with other kids his age. He drags his gear bag out of the trunk, gets out his hockey stick.

"Want to play some ball hockey?"

Jack is actually pretty good. They take turns in net, play a few rounds of keep away. They're wrestling over the goalie blocker when their parents come back outside, Jack yelling "You're too good at goalie, we should just set up the blocker in the net!" while Sidney holds the blocker as far away as possible. At least his mom and the Johnsons look amused; his mom has been looking kind of pinched since the explosion.

"Okay, Sidney," his mom says to him as he walks her to the rental. "I hope this is going to be good for you." She gives him a searching look, and he knows he hasn't always been as careful as he should have been, following an idea to its conclusion before he'd thought through any of the other consequences. He darts forward suddenly to hug her tightly, feeling overwhelmed with appreciation for how she's handled this. She presses her chin against the top of his head. "You're getting so tall. Next time I see you I probably won't be able to reach."

"I'll try not to get taller if you promise to keep Taylor from getting bigger," Sid says, partly because he means it and partly because it makes his mom laugh.

Being 13 at university is weird, but the Dean of Sciences herself gives him a tour of the facilities he'll have access to, and personally introduces him to some of the professors he'll be taking classes from. In the new year, he starts in the robotics program and meets Phil Kessel. Kessel is so shy Sid barely knows how to talk to him, has trouble getting him to meet his gaze.

"I'm Sid the Kid," is what he says to break the ice, and that at least elicits a laugh and an introduction from the boy himself.

"I'm Phil." Well, it isn't much, but Sid can work with it. He eventually learns that Phil also has a little sister back home, and that his nickname is Phil the Thrill because he'd once put a lot of square miles of Wisconsin into a blackout when he accidentally sent an electrical surge back into the grid while powering down a robotics experiment. When Sid convinces him to come home for lunch one weekend in January, Jack and Phil make fast friends. They all go out to a pond to play shinny, and Phil explains some hockey physics to Jack excitedly, helps him improve his skating speed.

A year later Sid earns a new nickname for himself when Jack interrupts him working on a self-launching robot with eight arms in the Johnson garage (the university had some sort of legal obligation, because of his age, to enforce time off, so Sid had just started bringing his projects home). At dinner Jack calls him "Squid" every time he asks Sid to pass the pepper or the mashed potatoes. In their room that night, Jack talks at length into the dark about how Sid should dump the rocket part of the robot and just turn it into an automaton goalie for them to play against.

Phil leaves for Massachusetts to go into a theoretical physics program only 5 semesters into Sid's time in Minnesota, which is a bummer. Sid suddenly has a lot more spare time without someone to build small fighting robots with surprise aeronautical features with, but Jack makes a solid effort to distract him with hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer, but during the school year Jack starts having to travel more for away games. 

That fall, when Sid starts his MS in mechanical engineering, they still won't let him teach because he's 15, so he plays some of the random history credits he took for his undergrad into the backbone of a second Bachelor’s program to kill some time. Most of his pleasure reading is about WWII and the Cold War already, so committing to a History major with a focus on that period just seems logical, he explains to his incredulous parents over winter break at the end of 2002. When he gets back from break its to a thick envelope with an offer from the University of Montreal. Minnesota has been really good to him, taking him so young and basically letting him do whatever he wants. And Jack is there. 

What Sid doesn't tell them is that he's doing a concurrent masters in kinesiology & sports medicine; he feels like it would just get his dad hoping he'll drop out of science and back into sports. While he may have played up his athletic experience to help him get into the program, he chose the program as a complement to his robotics research, wanting to look at organic functioning and movement. Jack immediately offers to be a lab rat for him. 

The BA is slower going than anything else Sid has done at college, partly by design, but it definitely does a lot to eat up his spare time. History reading is a different ball game, and once he starts working with primary sources it's more handwriting interpretation than he would like -- he gets enough of that in the lab, thank you. He eventually adds a Russian language studies minor to his BA, because he wants to be able to do original translations of some of the primary documents he's gotten access to. But in general it's pretty weird to be doing a discipline where he can't ever just prove his point by building something that will speak for itself. 

He's only recently started on a second PhD, in astrophysics, when he decides to move to Montreal. For all of 2003 the University of Montreal have been sweetening the pot: more funding, a teaching position, lab assistants, dedicated funding for flying home more than once a school year. He gives in.

Over email Phil tells him he's ridiculous to be working on a single BA while moving through two PhDs and a terminal MS. Jack mostly just laughs at him while only kind of doing his own homework.

***

Sid's still hacking away his history BA (thesis topic: the effects of the Cold War on the space race and professional sports) when the spring of 2004 rolls around. He gets offered a summer internship with an NDA his parents have to co-sign because he isn't even 17 yet (he loves his birthday, but sometimes August is a really inconveniently late time in the year to have a birthday). He flies home for Easter, and it's kind of weird and embarrassing to explain to them that he needs them to sign this. Between ham and candy and an Easter egg hunt for Taylor and his little cousins, he manages to talk them around. It isn't like he's expecting to go to Florida and be repairing and studying secret stuff for not-actually-NASA part of the time; he figures it's just because the Air Force is involved in his funding package.

But at least with them as co-signatories on the NDA, he can actually tell them cool stuff about his work when he gets to call home on the secure line at the Air Force Station. Even though Taylor is only eight (with her spring birthday), Sid figures out how to tell her stuff without breaking his NDA obligations - it involves a lot of creative metaphors, and choreography for her stuffed animals, that he thinks he'll probably end up regretting later.

NASA has had funding problems for ages, and they don't seem like the kind of problems that were going anywhere any time soon. So while it makes Sid kind of uncomfortable, the fact that a portion of his funding is from USAF makes it seem reasonable to think that means he's probably going to get to do this as an actual career. The military doesn't just fund a 16 year old's internships doing robotics and mechanical engineering for NASA if they don't want something from him in the future, Sid figures.

His parents have spent enough on equipment that sometimes had to be replaced because he'd melted it or otherwise destroyed it, on science fair registrations, and on increases in insurance premiums for that time Sid blew up the laundry room (the dryer mostly survived. Well, it didn't dry clothes anymore, but it was basically still intact), that he would do whatever is necessary to be able to pay them back for their sacrifices. He's eaten plenty of ramen while subsisting on inadequate funding for the scope of his ambitions (frankly, his BA and one of his MSes has been funded on the back of his PhDs), so the institutional food he gets at Cape Canaveral and at the various USAF bases he gets shuttled around to to tinker with machines ranks pretty high on the quality scale for Sid, and the cheques they hand him make him think he's going to need to open a bank account when he gets back to Montreal.

In late July, General Mario Lemieux shows up at one of the labs.

"Dr. Crosby," he calls out from the doorway, and Sid takes a minute to respond because that still doesn't sound like him.

"Yes sir?" Working for NASA but sometimes being loaned to the Air Force to do weird obscure shit on machines they didn't give him manuals for all summer has made him used to having to address military personnel at this point.

"I have someone I want you to meet, you should come to dinner with me when you're done in the lab tonight." General Lemieux's tone is friendly, and Sid is intrigued, but he has a lot of data from tests this morning he wants to analyze, there's no way he'll be done by anything resembling dinner time. "Take a break around 5:30, I'll pick you up."

General Lemieux takes him out to dinner that night, and introduces to him to _the_ Dr. Wayne Gretzky, who had burst dramatically on to the theoretical physics scene in 1994, and somehow has risen to be a four-star general even with putting in the time to get his 4 PhDs which he did after 1994; Sid has a poster of him in his billet room in Montreal -- for a couple of years in the mid-1990s he'd been like a rockstar. When dinner is over, he thinks it makes more sense that Gretzky is actually an alien who came through the Stargate in 1994.

General Lemieux-Call-Me-Mario asks him to sign a newer, tougher NDA and come out to Colorado Springs to see the facility, learn more about the Stargate program Mario wants to recruit him for. Throughout Mario's sales-pitch, Gretzky is quiet and unassuming, and it feels like he's staring at Sid a lot while Mario does all the talking, but he's never looking at Sid when he glances over. Sid has to resist making a joke about signatures and asking Dr. Gretzky for an autograph.

When he gets to Colorado Springs, when he gets to work on his first Stargate, to go through one for the first time, he knows this is It, this is the Thing for him, the thing he's been working toward all these years. He thinks that no matter where the money is coming from or what he wants it for, he's gotta stay in a program that let's him keep working with them.

Even before Mario Lemieux showed up in his lab and stole him from NASA, Sid had been kind of, on some level, assuming all summer that he'd end up somewhere like the SGC, even if he couldn't have imagined the actual SGC (no one thinks magical non-spacecraft space travel would involve this much bureaucracy. Well, maybe the Russians could have imagined it). What he hadn't expected was to be going from one funding nightmare to another. The SGC has been embroiled in an appropriations dispute with Congress and then an international incident comes to a head that summer.

Sitting in Mario's office in August, the General tells him that other countries want a say in how the Stargate program is run, which Sid thinks is fair enough - not everyone who wants serious decision-making power should have to become an American first, the way Mario had. Mario is hopeful the disputes will be resolved before long, but the SGC facility isn't even going to be open until everything is resolved.

"Come out to DC with me, we'll get you something to do until we can get you set up in a lab here."

Mario's family lives in DC, where his wife is an activist and lobbyist for funding for scientific research and science in the k-12 classroom. Sid spends the fall months shuttling between Montreal and DC, where he billets with Mario's family, waiting to hear how the process is going. An International Oversight Advisory is being developed, policies for inter-country exchanges or transfers of personnel are under discussion. In the meantime Sid doesn't know what this will mean for non-American non-military underage personnel, but at least time will eventually take care of one of those.

At Christmas, Sid flies home and then almost immediately turns around and flies to a conference in North Dakota. While Sid is presenting a paper on robotics and movement, the SGC is able to get some leverage with both Congress and the newly confirmed IOA, when they discover the Russians have their own Stargate.

At the conference, Sid listens to a paper presentation on astronautic engineering from a super tall Russian called Evgeni Malkin, who looks barely older than Sid. The paper is mostly in Russian, with a translator, but Malkin's face tells a lot about how exciting his research is. Sid has to drag himself away when it's time to prepare for his own presentation.

Afterwards, he tries to talk to Malkin. He's standing with another boy, and has left before Sidney makes his way over.

"Alexander Ovechkin!" the boy says. It's sort of like being accosted by an excited puppy. "You must be Sidney Crosby."

"Yes. That's me," and Sid shoves his hands into his suit's pockets even though he knows it ruins the line of the slacks, and it would be polite to shake the excited puppy's hand.

"Soon we will be comrades! General Lemieux has been telling me all about you."

"Oh? You know Mario?"

"Yes, yes, I have been with Russian Stargate program, Mario wants me for American Stargate Program." Sid is nonplussed by how easily Ovechkin shares this with him, but he learns Ovechkin is essentially defecting to work with a more advanced Stargate program, that Mario will be sneaking Ovechkin bodily out of North Dakota before the conference has even concluded. The Kremlin and the звезда ворота власть are pissed as hell that Mario is able to sneak Ovechkin out from under their noses. The Russians, considering Ovechkin to be an asset on loan to the SGC, get an agreement for a prominent place on the IOA, and demand first dibs on arranging personnel loans and transfers. "The funding issue is well on it's way to being resolved," Mario tells him during a rare weekend they're both in DC.

In March, Sid gets called into the SGC to aid in a crisis. They aren't really the circumstances he'd been hoping to finally be called in, to meet all his future co-workers, under, but he wants to do what he can to help. Colonel LeClair escorts Sid directly to Cheyenne Mountain -- he thinks that USAF hasn't even booked him a hotel or arranged biletting. Security checkpoint after security checkpoint, going deeper into the mountain makes Sid's shoulders tighten; being this far away from the sky is pretty terrible and it's nuts to think the Air Force operates out of this facility.

LeClair abandons him in an ugly briefing room, but he returns soon with --

"Phil?!" And it really is Kessel, all doctorated and stuff, wearing the SGC crest on his shoulder. They hug, and Sid hears Phil mumble, "Should have known the only two babies in the robotics program would end up here," into his shoulder.

General Laraque interrupts them, and Sid makes an effort not to spring away from Phil. "Colonel LeClair?"

"General! I was just, uh, re-introducing Dr Crosby and Dr Kessel here. We've had Crosby studying the Stargate out of a DC office for almost a year now."

"You've been managing that without access to a working gate?" Phil asks, kind of impressed and kind of incredulous. It's easy for Sid to warm to that, to forget the urgency of the moment.

"I made a virtual computer model based on the Gate the Russians have now - and your DHD software."

"What did you think about the algorithm for --"

Laraque clears his throat to break up their little tete a tete. "Well I'm sure it's a thrill to be here to see the real thing."

"I got to see it last year, go through it. I hope to have a chance to work with it more in the future," Sid mumbles, glad the table top is blocking the view of his fists balled in his khaki pockets.

"The Pentagon feels Doctor Crosby has become the foremost expert on the Stargate," LeClair tells Laraque.

Sid rolls his eyes behind LeClair's back. "Next to Phil the Thrill, here."

LeClair seems to be annoyed with Sid's attitude - probably someone who thinks they can turn Sid into their ticket to a promotion. "With all due respect, Doctor Crosby, Dr Kessel spends most of his time in the field."

Even with a Lieutenant General in the room, Sid finds himself snapping, "I would have been able to do very little of my work without his."

"-- there are actually some major flaws in the interface that I would love to fix, but there's never time --" Phil mumbles next to him.

"I'll admit it's not perfect but I've already made some modifications to the version I'm running," Sid says, leaning toward Phil.

"The flaws have caused a bunch of unnecessary situations, that we're lucky haven't escalated before. Maybe this is an indication we need to budget more time for paying off technical debt."

"That's why the Dr. Crosby is here to help." LeClair looks pissed when Sid glances away from Phil.

Laraque has been watching the exchange impassively, and finally says, "Good. He can report to Dr Kessel."

"And the two of them might be able to work together to solve this problem. To get Dr Gretzky back in one piece. In the time allotted."

"Excuse me? In the time allotted?" Phil frowns.

"48 hours," LeClair snaps.

"Sid?"

"I made the mistake of telling them the pattern might have lost integrity if it takes more than 48 hours to get him reintegrated, and now they don't want the gate inactive for longer than that," Sid says, miserable and annoyed, and still not used to this level of politics in his science. Everyone in the room is glaring at LeClair now, but he doesn't seem very moved.

After they've gotten Dr. Gretzky rematerialized, Sid and Phil sneak off to a lab to review the changes Sid has made to Phil's software. The next day, Sid becomes the first personnel loan to the звезда ворота власть. He makes a great bargaining chip with the Kremlin after the SGC has blown up their DHD; they already have Ovechkin, but they're going to get a military and diplomatic liaison out of Sid's trade.

The звезда ворота власть have read his theses and dissertations (probably, Mario tells him) and he already speaks Russian (mostly, he mumbles at Mario and Jagr in the huge conference room where everyone seems to be staring him, even super big wigs like Wickenheiser and Laraque). Sid doesn't really feel like arguing when Mario tells him he's leaving for Siberia in a few weeks.

Back in Montreal Sid ties up loose ends - his astrophysics PhD is ABD, so he gets his defence scheduled and completed, but there's nothing he can do to finish the history BA. The incompleteness rankles a bit, but he tells himself there will be more first hand opportunities for both research and learning Russian this way. The whole time his mind is on the Stargate, whose relationship to astrophysical theories he's had to work hard to keep out of his dissertation, and how he's going get to take apart the Russian one since it isn't going to be in use for the time being; he visits Taylor and his parents; he puts all his stuff into storage in Colorado Springs, since that's likely to be where he'll be sent when his time in Russia is over.

***

звезда ворота власть, 2005

When Sid arrives at Kuybyshev airbase in May, it's a ghost town. His military transport took him there directly, his military pilot disinterested in talking to him. There are barely any people to tell him where anything is, what anyone wants him to be doing.

Someone half-under the fuselage of a small plane in the hangar he's been left in grumbles some Russian at him, "Austria. Conference. Not back until next week." The body slides out, and a woman in grease splattered coveralls gives him a once over. "Lt Col Yekaterina Smolentseva," she says offering her hand. "You must be Dr. Sidney Crosby; your reputation precedes you."

Sid can feel himself blushing. That could mean so many things. That could as easily be about an explosive lab accident, an interesting theory his name is associated with, or about his huge ass that everyone seems obsessed with.

"Uh, hi, yes, that's me. You can just call me Sid," he manages, his Russian rustier than he'd thought. He fumbles to let go of her hand and not drop his duffle bag on the floor of the hangar.

"Not Sid the Kid?" But her smile is kind, and she isn't that many years older than him, he's pretty sure. The rhyme doesn't work at all in Russian, and they both laugh for a moment. "Come, I will give you a tour. Most of us are in Austria, even Semin and Kovalchuk, but my tour will be better anyway."

"Yeah, I was told to report to them? I'm not completely sure what I'm going to be doing here, what my clearance level is. Everything seemed kind of hurried."

"Yes, you were our first exchange. I'm No 2, but the first one from Russia to the US, because Ovechkin doesn't count." Sid finds himself laughing pretty hard, embarrassing honking undisguised.

"Why doesn't Ovechkin count? I thought a lot of this was his fault anyway?"

"He's not part of the transfer program, he can't have all the special titles. Anyway, I'm leaving for Colorado Springs in three days, so don't get used to me being here to hold your hand."

"What are you going to be doing at the SGC?"

"Working with Gonchar to get some spaceships built, hopefully getting a place on the bridge once they are. Stuff like that." Maybe she can see the starry envy in Sid's eyes, he can certainly feel it filling up his chest, because she adds, "I'm sure we can find something cool for you to do. We might not have a DHD for you to play with anymore, but we do still have an entire Stargate."

***

His itinerary in Russia is indefinite, and at first he doesn't really do much besides putter around his lab getting the lay of the land and emailing Taylor about local food and wildlife.

Sid discovers that the source of Ovechkin's lose tongue wasn't just his imminent defection; the Russian equivalent of the SGC (the Star Gate Authority) is both less and more integrated with the military than Sid is already used to from his brief months with the SGC - apparently the Russians get away with not using NDAs by still operating under a blanket classification and then keeping everything need-to-know unless someone is actually working hands on with aliens technology or going through a gate, and then expect lingering Soviet military sentiments to keep everyone's mouths shut.

This means the non-Russian scientists have to learn to keep their work to themselves or speak carefully in common spaces like the mess hall. Fortunately for Sid, he has plenty of theoretical stuff to yell about that doesn't require him to talk about Stargates or mention aliens, and someone to talk about to about it, in neither English nor Russian. He becomes buddies with a astrophysicist called Flower, and they spend a lot of their time in the mess yelling at each other in French. Unlike Sid, the Russian scientists are all always working double-duty, sometimes doing normal stuff for the military out of the same labs they're using to pick apart Goa'uld and Ancient tech, and sometimes leaving Kuybyshev airbase and going into Magnitogorsk to work on other aircraft and computer systems.

Major Malkin is always going back and forth between Kuybyshev and Magnitogorsk, and always seems to have left one for the other when Sid has a reason to leave the airbase. He's pretty popular with the non-military and noncom military scientists in the labs, and Sid has been hearing about him for months before he realizes that Major Malkin is Evgeni Malkin, who he had presented after at the conference in North Dakota, who he'd seen talking with Ovechkin. Malkin's paper was on astronautic engineering without atmospheric-breaking rocketry, and Sid really wants to talk to him about it.

After this Sid tries to make an actual effort to meet him, but is thwarted at every turn. Colleagues suddenly need to talk to him in the hallway when he's trying to approach Malkin, base-wide alarms go off when he's approaching the open door of Malkin's office, Malkin has always just left for a flight when Sid shows up to the mechanics lab Malkin primarily works in. If it wasn't ridiculous to even think, Sid would call it a conspiracy; he's barely been able to set eyes on Malkin in the seven months they've both been in Russia. Sid starts leaving post-it notes on Malkin's office door, carefully writing out his terrible Cyrillic chicken scratch.

 _Your aircraft looked good today._ He managed to arrive in the hangar only five minutes after Malkin had left for a meeting (that started ten minutes ago, one of the assistants adds), but it really is a nice piece of machinery.

 _What happened to your hair?_ Sid finds this on his own office door some days later. Sid might have bleached his hair a bit, but that was less a fashion choice and more of a combination prank and lab disaster, because Flower is an asshole.

Sid writes back: _Flower is an asshole._

 _You should have the best flowers_ appears on his lab door the next day. The edge of the post-it is ringed with badly drawn cartoon flowers.

Sid builds some tiny robot with flower camo, and gives them hockey sticks they can operate with their spindly limbs. He lets them skitter around on his lab bench, until eventually he builds them a little pond diorama.

In late December, most of the airbase clears again with many of his co-workers off to Vancouver for another conference. Sid is fine not to be attending, it's a long trip and not close enough to visit his family. What he's less fine about is that the major astronautics conference next year hasn't invited him to present. He's turned 18, he's been publishing even though it's a lot of extra effort not to include classified information, Italy is relatively close-by. In eight years the conference will be in Russia, and Sid can't decide how he feels about not really knowing whether he'll still be here or not. At least he knows he'll be going to Latvia in the spring, where he might actually get to speak with Major Malkin. Everyone is meant to be back a few days into the new year, so Sid puts the hockey-playing flower robots in a little bag and leaves on the door knob to Malkin’s office.

In Latvia, Sid still doesn’t managed to talk to Malkin, or even see his presentation. Sid isn’t giving one this time, because nothing new is ready to be published when he has to make sure he has substantial research worth publishing that doesn’t include anything classified. While still in Latvia, Sid gets recalled by the SGC, and sent to McMurdo with no time to go back to Kuybyshev; he calls Flower from the airport to ask him to pack up and ship his stuff. Flower has a good time laughing at him - “From Siberia to Antarctica, Squid! Only you.”

***

Flower and Sid keep up over email while Sid works with the control chair, and the Ancient outpost. In August, Flower writes to tell him Major Malkin has disappeared. No one can seem to decide what happened - did he desert, did he defect, has his been transfer been classified, has he been killed? For weeks Sid has low-level worry about what might have happened, but the outpost is keeping him busy, yielding a lot, not just for R&D, but about the Ancients on a cultural level. Dr. Jagr thinks there may be more to find yet, even. In October, Colonel Lemieux is scheduled to come in to consult with Dr. Jagr, one the first intercontinental trips of the spring.

Sid has bullied Army into the control chair, and Army is whining. “Creature, I would literally rather be cutting people open right now than messing with technology we don’t understand.”

“We aren’t going to understand it if we don’t experiment. Be grateful for your genetic bounty.” They both pull faces at each other, and Army sighs in defeat, closing his eyes to concentrate.

The drone weapon lights up, and takes off, and Sid can hear Dr. Martin nearly having a stroke as the elevator comes back down to the main floor of the outpost.

When Colonel Lemieux finally arrives, safe and whole, Martin is saying, "This stuff is dangerous Sid, we can’t just leap into it without regard for the fact that this is actually a _defensive outpost_. If Armstrong isn’t confident, he isn’t a good resource for this experiment."

Sid doesn’t really believe this, because behind him Army is boasting about successfully disarming the drone he'd armed in the first place.

Low level chaos is unfolding around them, Dr. Jagr trying to drag Colonel Lemieux off to review his research, Dr. Martin not finished telling Sid _not everyone has to be giving 110% to every aspect of the project_ , when a lane between bodies suddenly opens up, and Sid can clearly see Major Malkin, standing on the platform, sitting down in the control chair. The entire platform lights up, the chair glowing blue under Malkin's ridiculously long and skinny body. Sid is sure a hush doesn't actually fall, that everyone else is still engaged in their arguments and discussions, but to him it feels like everything has gone on mute. He steps forward, and Malkin's sleepy, intrigued eyes meet Sid's.

"Major, think about where we are in the solar system." Silvery threads of light unspool above them, drawing out a chart of their system, Earth glowing above their heads, the other planets spinning out around it.

Malkin stares up at the chart, and something in Sid's chest catches. "I do that?"

***

**Part Two: Malkin**

Zhenya feels weird about piloting Mario Lemieux around McMurdo. He's as impressed as anybody who cares about science, but Lemieux is in the US military now, and as far as Zhenya knew the US military didn't tend to be in Antarctica unless it was for science or doing grunt work. It was hard not to ask what Lemieux had flown in for, but fortunately he seemed to want Zhenya to produce an encyclopedic description of everything he'd ever flown, so that killed most of the time to the weird outpost Zhenya had been ferrying people to for weeks.

"I fly Mikoyan Fulcrum, some Antonov, some Kamov, Tupolev -- Backfire and Bear..."

"That's a lot of different aircraft to end up in Antarctica," Lemieux says mildly, like he knows there’s a story there but was too polite to ask. He is still Canadian, after all.

Zhenya shrugs. "I come from Siberia, remind me of home. Hard not to like it here."

Lemieux laughs. "It's hard to find two places so far apart that are so similar. Funny thing, to have ended up here." He’s sure pushy for a polite Canadian. "How did you end up flying VIP transport?"

"Hey, I move cargo too!" Zhenya jokes, trying to make himself feel comfortable and also hopefully avoid the question.

"Of course! Lots of cargo to move around here."

"Got to help some scientists, move penguins, best assignment," Zhenya offers, because they are kind of atypical cargo, and more VIP in his estimation than any general could be.

"Wow, my kids would love that. I bet all four of them would say they to want to grow up to be a military pilot if they knew it could involve penguins," Lemieux say and smiles at him.

"How old are kids?"

"13, 11, 10, and 9."

"Good ages. You Canadian, yes? They play hockey yet?"

"A couple of them are on teams, yeah."

"I play hockey when I growing up too, best game." Zhenya squints at his dials. "We about ten minutes out, sir."

"You should call me Mario." It’s a good thing he can practically operate any aircraft in his sleep, because he can't help how quickly his head turned and his jaw drops. "Or like, Dr Mario, that's what a lot of my kids' friends like to call me. This whole military thing is a means to an end, not like an identity or anything. Still just a scientist," Lemieux - _Mario_ , apparently - tells him with a wink.

Before Zhenya can get it together to provide some kind of response, the radio crackles to life. "All inbound craft, we have a rogue drone that can seek a target on its own. Land immediately and shut down your engines. This is not a drill. I repeat—" And there’s the drone heading straight for them. "No time!" he shouts back into the radio, trying to lose the drone circling around the chopper.

Lemieux peered out the window. "Maybe break right?"

But that isn't --

"You know that was left, right?"

"Yes, not time to break right yet." He dips below the drone, and then suddenly it disappears from view, its weird streaking tail not even visible in the distance. "Do you see? I cannot spot!"

"Pull up!" Lemieux suggests, sounding worryingly breathless.

As he pulls up, it comes into view around the side, and goes blasting down into the snow, which seems terrible strategically - maybe it has shitty automation. Either way, the guy on the radio is right, they are going to have to land, the chopper is definitely more of a target than they will be on foot. They land several yards out from where the drone had disappeared into the snow.

Lemieux is staring out the window, looking way less freaked out than Zhenya feels. "Wait --" And clearly he somehow means they should just stay in the obvious target until they see what the drone is up to.

"Sir- Mario, what -- Not wait!" And Zhenya hauls Lemieux bodily out of the chopper as the drone bursts out of the snow, heading straight for them. They drop to the snowy ground next to chopper, Zhenya trying to shield Lemieux bodily, but the drone suddenly loses speed and skitters to a halt next to them, completely inert.

They lay in the snow for a moment, breathing hard, staring at the drone. Slowly they climb to their feet, and Zhenya realizes this was just totally fucked. That does not look like any UAV or attack drone he has ever seen, not from any country's military.

He blinks down at it. "Different," he says, nudging it cautiously with the toe of his boot.

Lemieux gives him an apologetic look. "Not very different to me, kind of normal actually."

Zhenya tries to digest that. It isn't going down very well, but he still has a job to do. "Come, we get you to base."

***

At the base, there are a lot of people running about, almost none of whom are in uniforms. Mostly they’re in kind of ugly fuzzy fleece sweaters, and Zhenya wants one immediately. He wonders if they all had just shown up to work today like that, or if maybe there is someone around handing them out.

A guy with what Zhenya is pretty sure qualified as a mullet rushes up to them. "Mario!"

"Jaromir. Was that welcome from you? I don't think Nathalie wants me getting my blood pressure up like that for no reason."

"That was definitely not me. I'm happy you aren't dead, but how are you not dead?"

Lemieux claps Zhenya hard on the shoulder, enough to make him sway. "Major Evgeni Malkin's exceptional flying and uh, hands on decision-making. Did you know this place is just like Siberia?"

"I like," Zhenya offers when Jaromir just looks kind of stymied rather than enlightened.

"Okay, you need to explain what exactly is going on here," Lemieux says, poking Jaromir in the chest until he turns. "And you, try not to touch anything, your security clearance doesn't come with a manual."

"Yes ... Mario."

The base is weird, definitely different from other bases Zhenya has visited or worked in. It almost looks like what he thinks a movie set would be like, with really architecturally out of place areas, like this throne chair just randomly right here with a couple of scientists talking over it like it was nothing weird at all. He wanders over in time to catch the end of what one of them is saying.

"... and the drone shut itself down."

"You fire drone? Not automated?" Zhenya can't decide if he’s angry, it’s all just so bizarre.

"I didn't mean to! We aren't even sure if it is partly automated. This technology is so advanced, our research has not gotten very far yet." The guy pulls a face, and Zhenya is pretty sure he can't stay mad at him. Everyone _is_ fine, after all. "I'm really really sorry though, and I'm really glad you're okay," the guy adds.

"Be more care," Zhenya says. Just because they guy is nice doesn't mean it doesn't need to said.

"I know, right? That's literally what I said. But no one listens to me ..."

"What kind drone? Never seen before."

"Oh, it's one of the weapons the Ancients made, part of the defensive stuff for this outpost, I guess."

"Who?"

"You have security clearance, right?"

"Yeah, Mario just give."

The guy gives him a weird look, and then -- "Wait, so you don't know what a Stargate is?"

Zhenya feels kind of caught. "Little bit? Russia have one for while."

"Oh, right, I forgot about that whole ... situation. How much do you know about it?"

"Only little, Russia program not want me." And doesn't that still make him feel sour, having to tell some random stranger that.

"Well, the Stargates seem to work a bit differently than other Ancient technology. Anyone with a device that can interface and dial can use those, but the stuff here all requires the user to have a special gene. Like a biometric security system to make sure only the Ancients could use most of their technology and weapons."

"You have Ancient gene, fire drone?"

"Yeah," and he seems pretty glum considering he’s apparently related to some sort of special people who built all this crazy amazing stuff, like the fucking Stargates. He rambles on a bit about biology and evolution, but Zhenya is starting to feel like this day has been very very long, and the throne chair looks like it might even be long enough for him, so he sits down. "Please don't--"

"You think I'm secretly Ancient," but Zhenya doesn't get to finish, because the fucking chair is fucking activating. Goddammit, he knew they were wrong to keep him from out of the Stargate program.

"Just, just stay here," the guy says, and Zhenya realizes he still didn't even know his name.

Lemieux and bunch of other people in fuzzy fleece jackets are suddenly surrounding him. Lemieux looks kind of patiently amused, like he dealt with this shit every day. "I asked you not to touch stuff."

"Only sit!"

And then he realizes Sidney motherfucking Crosby is standing there in an orange-red sweater that really does not work for his complexion, and yet he looks more stupidly gorgeous than he has in any of the pictures Zhenya has seen or the brief glimpses at conferences and in hallways.

"Major," Sidney motherfucking Crosby says to him, "Think about where we are in the solar system."

It’s as easy as breathing, as easy as hockey or flying. A map of their planets glow to life above him, Earth at the center above their heads. Well, Zhenya hadn't really thought this day could have gotten stranger, but here he is controlling ridiculous technology _apparently with his mind_ while Sidney motherfucking Crosby is nearly standing over him.

For something to say, Zhenya asks Crosby, "I do that?"

Crosby huffs a laugh, and smiles so brightly it’s giving the star chart a run for its money. "Yeah, you definitely did that." His smile is pretty contagious, now that Zhenya is finally seeing it in person, and he finds himself smiling helplessly back.

Everyone else clears out, or went to do their jobs, or something, Zhenya didn't really care, because Crosby is still there, and he has this look of wonder on his face and seems to be directing it at Zhenya.

"We meet at last," Crosby says, giggling to himself.

"Know you here, I bring flowers," Zhenya tries to joke, but Crosby goes pink, and Zhenya thinks he'd prefer if it wasn't a joke either.

"You have security clearance, right?" Crosby sounds breathless, way more eager for the answer than that first guy had sounded. Probably Zhenya should find out his name before he flies back out, it’s good to keep track of people who almost kill you and then apologize.

"Everyone keep ask, yes, Mario just give me, everything fine." He totally fails at sounding at all annoyed.

"That means we could recruit you for the Expedition, you could come with us," and Crosby sounds like he's talking as much to himself as he is to Zhenya, that look of wonder growing.

"Come where?"

"To Atlantis," Crosby says, like that wasn't literally the craziest thing in a long list of crazy things that has already happened that day. "Uh, it's on another planet in another galaxy, it isn't like, hiding in the Atlantic or something. Um, w-would you ... want to do that?"

And what’s Zhenya supposed to say? Knowing a bit about Stargates doesn't prepare a person for a proposition, a _proposal_ like that. But they’re interrupted a soon as Zhenya opens his mouth to say something.

"Hello Major Malkin, I'm Dr. Martin. I was hoping to talk to you about joining my Expedition team." Crosby's face has gone pale, like he had no idea someone else was going to show up right on his heels asking the same question.

"I think about, Dr. Martin," Zhenya says blandly, wishing he would go away so he and Crosby can be alone again to talk about this. Crosby, who now looks Zhenya had essentially said no. Fuck.

Getting out of the throne chair is a lot harder than falling into it had been, but Zhenya struggles out of it so he can grab Crosby by the elbow and drag him off somewhere that won't have an audience for their conversation.

"Malkin, what are we--"

"Need talk, think about Expedition. Not gonna do with Expedition leader right there."

"You know I'm going on the Expedition too, right?"

"I figure, but not same as leader. You ask if is what _I_ want ... not sure. All new, and weird, maybe scary." And he hasn't really admitted to himself that knowing this stuff just exists isn't nearly as scary as the idea of _leaving the planet_.

Crosby's face softens. "It's okay if it's scary, you'd probably need your head checked if it wasn't least a little. It's exciting though, going to other planets."

"Wanted to be cosmonaut when I little," Zhenya finds himself admitting. "Right after I want be hockey player."

"Me too." Crosby ducks his head, and his fluffy curls tumble into his face. "In between wanting to be a hairdresser and wanting to be Bill Nye the Science Guy. Um, he was this scientist who had a kids' show on tv." And Zhenya can totally picture that, tiny Crosby wanting to teach other kids about the wonders of science.

"You want make robots with flowers, have play hockey?" Crosby blushes again, the tips of his ears looking especially red.

"I don't think that had occurred to me yet." Crosby bites his lip. "I hope you liked them?"

"Of course, you make." Zhenya looks at Crosby, really looks, and something feels tight in his chest. "Expedition gone long time?"

"Um." Crosby looks away. "We don't know? Getting there is going to take a lot of power, and we don't know what the resources at the other end are going to be."

"You mean, could be forever?"

"I guess, yeah, depending on if we have the power resources to use the Stargate to come back." Crosby still isn't meeting his eyes. Zhenya tilts his face up with a finger under Crosby's chin. Reluctantly, Crosby meets his eyes. "It isn't like, super great. I can't tell my parents or sister where I'm going. But."

"Is worth?" Crosby nods, and Zhenya is still touching his chin. "You go, I maybe never see again?"

Crosby shrugs, and drops his gaze. Like he knows exactly what is starting to form in Zhenya's mind, he adds: "That isn't a good reason though, the Expedition --"

"Expedition sound very cool, lots of thing I always want, science, space, stargates. But Sidney," and why is he still thinking of him as Crosby, after all these months? "Only just finally get to meet proper, can't say that is not good reason, too."

"You can't just risk throwing away your whole life, unless you really want to go to Atlantis, explore --"

Zhenya kisses him, because he is already practically cupping Sidney's cheek and clearly this conversation is not getting his point across. Sidney's lips move against his like he’s still trying to form words for the first few seconds, and then he melts against Zhenya. "Can't just risk throw away this either, Sidney," he whispers between kisses.

Sidney's head thunks against Zhenya's collarbone. "This is such a terrible idea."

"Why? You not even in military, Sidney, not count as fraternization."

His arms tighten around Zhenya. "That's not what I mean. The Expedition could be - it will probably be very dangerous, and apparently I've just talked you into going where you could be in lots of danger."

"Not kitten, Sidney, I'm Major in Russian Air Force, think I can handle." Zhenya kisses the top of Sidney's head, and pulls him even closer. "And you there, can use science to protect me from scary alien."

***

Everyone leaves Antarctica in the next few days, to home or back to the SGC in Colorado. Zhenya knows he can't go back to Russia, that he needs to let Mario and Dr. Martin sort out his personnel transfer without undercutting their leverage.

Sid is going home before coming to Colorado, and clearly wants to take Zhenya with him, but won't ask. There's a part of Zhenya that wants to go, the part that wonders whether they will ever see Earth again, but the rest of him knows it's way too soon. Besides, if they really might never make it back, Sid needs as much time as possible with his family.

USAF and the SGC put him up in a hotel in Colorado Springs rather than in barracks at Cheyenne Mountain - probably because they're still fighting with Russia, but Zhenya definitely prefers being in downtown over being literally _under a mountain_.

He spends the first couple of days bumming around the hotel trying to sort out all of his feelings, about Sid, about Stargates, about agreeing to go to a different galaxy indefinitely. But that gets tiresome pretty fast and downtown Colorado Springs is a lot more interesting, with museums, restaurants, and concert halls. He goes for a walk along Monument Creek, following the Pikes Peak Greenway trail, and wonders what planets in another galaxy will look like, what kind of animals they'll have.

The day Sid is due to arrive Zhenya finds himself idly browsing through a sporting goods store, thinking about Sid's hockey-playing robots and all the stuff they can't bring with them through through the gate.

On the way back to the hotel he spots a florist and impulsively buys a bouquet for Sid. He isn't even meeting Sid at the airport, and waiting for Sid to arrive at the hotel he starts feeling stupid. Zhenya is about to chuck the flowers into the trash when Sid keys into the room.

He looks tired. "This time I get you flowers," Zhenya tells him to make him smile, pulling him into a hug. Sid giggles softly into his shoulder, sagging against him. Zhenya shuffles him toward the bed, abandoning the flowers on the desk. "You like droopy flower. Dehydrated?" Sid mumbles an affirmative, his face pressed into Zhenya's pillow.

Rehydrated Sid is a bit more chipper, settling his head onto Zhenya's shoulder and telling him about Taylor trying to beg him details about the mission. His tone is a mix of happy and sad that Zhenya is too familiar with, but he's knows what it's like for that to be worth it as well as Sid does. Sid falls silent, fidgeting with the hem of Zhenya's t-shirt. He presses his face into Zhenya’s shoulder and presses a kiss to his cheek, before getting up to change for bed and brush his teeth. He comes back out of the bathroom with a plastic cup filled with water for the flowers.

Sid hesitates, standing between the two beds. Zhenya watches as he comes to his side of the bed and leans over to kiss Zhenya again. “Goodnight.” Sid climbs into the other bed, and Zhenya stares at the ceiling wondering about the weird too-many-steps-forward and then too-many-steps-back patter their relationship seems to be following. He falls asleep wondering what it would be like if Sid’s head was still on his shoulder.

The next day, at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Sid looks pensive and drawn, staring silently at the exhibits. Zhenya prods him with an elbow. “What you think about?”

“Do you think we’ll meet other people in Pegasus?”

“Like aliens?”

“No, other humans. Or Ancients. We evolved from Ancients, right? Are there people there who also evolved from Ancients?”

Before he knew about Stargates Zhenya would have said he didn’t think the odds of there being intelligent life in other part of the universe to be very likely, but now he’s known there are other intelligent beings for years. If the SGC’s understanding of the Ancients is right … “Probably. Make more sense than there not be.”

Sid still looks troubled, and stays withdrawn even when they walk up Tejon and get some boderline unseasonable ice cream.

***

At the SGC Zhenya meets a lot of scientists he may never see again, because they aren’t coming through the gate with them. Sid seems to know most of them, at least in passing. Dr. Giroux just silently glares at them the entire time they’re visiting the lab, but Dr. Biere is polite and friendly, excited on their behalf. On the way to the SGC gate room, where Sid has to get the Zed-PM hooked into their gate, they meet some junior scientists who seem pretty starry-eyed about meeting both of them, but mostly Sid, which predisposes Zhenya to liking them.

If Dr. Benn the older didn’t have a beard, Zhenya isn’t sure he would have been able to keep track who was who, since their lab coats both have ‘J. Benn’ embroidered into them. Dr. Subban is infectiously enthusiastic, and seems to think if he and Sid both talk fast enough he can be completely caught up on everything about the Expedition before they have to leave to go through the gate. Dr. Price’s lab suddenly explodes with noise, and the three of them rush off to find out what happened.

Sid joins Zhenya on the ramp to the gate after it successfully comes to life. Zhenya bumps their shoulders, trying to get Sid to relax. He doesn’t think it makes much of a difference, but he gets a pretty smile for his efforts. 

The room on the other side of the Stargate is massive, a high soaring ceiling far above the already tall arch of the gate. Zhenya hears a low hum as everything lights up around them, like the city waking up from a nap. It reminds him of Sid, who is right then literally vibrating with excitement next to Zhenya. "Sid," Zhenya whispers. But Sid grabs his hand and drags him up the staircase to a loft level overlooking the gate.

Dr. Martin is doing a better job keeping a lid on his expression, but he’s clearly as excited as Sid, as everyone whose excited murmurs are drifting up. Zhenya doesn't need better English, or Czech, or Polish, or any other language to understand that tone, to recognize those feelings within himself.

Atlantis feels utterly alien and just like home. Steel and cold efficient architecture, but with an underlying sense of warmth, like the city is alive. Like it's been waiting for them, waiting for Zhenya. But still, after the chair incident in the Antarctic outpost he feels compelled to tell Dr. Martin, “I not touching _anything_!” Dr. Martin just smiles, amused.

"These look like controls for the gate, maybe for parts of the city! This definitely looks like their version of a DHD, Malkin look at these gate symbols." He lets Sid drag him from console to console, and direct his attention. This is definitely way more Sid's domain than his, however long he's wanted to be part of the Russian Stargate Program.

"Dr. Martin," Col. Therrien's voice crackles over the radio, "Can you please come here, we're three levels down?" Sid and Dr. Martin share a look, and Sid follows Dr. Martin down, a hand still clamped around Zhenya' arm.

Sid gets distracted as soon as they arrive on the lower level, wandering off, but Dr. Martin makes a beeline for Col. Therrien. Who’s standing in front of windows that give a very full view of the sprawl of the city around what seemed to be a central tower, and ... water. 

“We’re underwater!”

“A lot, from the looks of it. We’re going to be depending on the stargate,” Col. Therrien replies.

Sid's head pops into doorway.

"Sid, Sid, Sid, we're _underwater_!" This was definitely better than being under a mountain. Maybe there were whales! Or dolphins! 

"Holy shit. I guess no one was kidding about that sunken city thing, huh?" Sid says, staring up through the window. “Um, Army wants us to go see a thing.”

The hologram woman tells the story of Atlantis, or the fall of the Ancients and their retreat to the Milky Way, like they made a museum about themselves before they left. It doesn't feel like a message for those who would come after, but like every badly thought out audio component to an exhibit Zhenya has ever experienced.

Sid is riding on a bubble of joy until he isn't. Looking down at his tablet, his happy flush abruptly disappears and turning him pale and blue in the weird light of the holo room. Zhenya is at his side before he's finished the rest of his thought. "We need to shut down everything we're doing, like 5 minutes ago. We are hemorrhaging power, and the Zed-PMs are what's holding back all that ocean."

Bent over the DHD trying to find somewhere they can gate to - for ZPMs, for shelter, whatever they can get - Sid huffs out a laugh at Zhenya. "I told you it was going to be dangerous, I just didn't think it would happen so quickly."

Zhenya gives him a tight smile, and tries not to worry. He's going through the gate with Col. Therrien, who hates him, and leaving Sid behind. "Not danger yet, solve before danger." He hopes he sounds surer than he feels. His hands twitch where they rest on his P90. He isn't even going to get to say goodbye to Sid, not with everyone standing around.

Sid finds an address, and Dr. Martin approves it. He punches it in, and a wormhole bursts into life before Zhenya's eyes for only the second time. Sid follows him down to the gate. "No goodbyes, because you're coming back and we're all still going to be here," he tells Zhenya, his jaw set and his eyes fierce. He pulls Zhenya's hand into a clumsy handshake, bowing his head and tapping Zhenya's chest to finish. All he can do is nod, and work to make Sid's unwavering faith is well-placed.

***

The other side of the gate isn't just like a whole new world, they're literally on the surface of another planet somewhere in this other galaxy. The first thing they do is nearly shoot some kids because everyone is way too quick to see every moving thing as a dangerous enemy.

After years of struggling with English and having to make do with interpreters at international conferences, Zhenya is shocked how clearly these kids understand him and how plainly intelligible their own speech is to him.

"We can show you the settlement!" the one called Jinto pipes up, clearly excited to show off to new people.

At the settlement Therrien immediately steps on everyone's toes. It would make anyone cringe, the tone deaf way he's treating their hosts like he isn't at their mercy, but it means Zhenya is going to have to deal with this, he knows how to make fast friends and there doesn't even seem to be a language barrier to contend with.

Their leader seemed painfully young, which is maybe part of Therrien's problem, but definitely isn't one for Zhenya. He smiled his most charming smile, but their leader didn't really return it.

"I am Jordan, son of Linda. We do not trade with strangers."

"Major Evgeni Malkin. I'm like hockey, hugging dangerous animals, and going faster than 300 kilometers an hour. See, now we friends."

Jordan narrows his eyes at Zhenya, seemingly processing this. Finally, he laughs and shakes his head. "We can have tea, and then confer with my brothers."

His brothers are both more and less suspicious of them. "If your world doesn't deal with the wraith, you should go back to it," Marc says, not even joining them at the table.

"Cannot, same reason we need help now. Not enough power."

"But we're just a bunch of farmers," Jared says, and Zhenya almost can't believe he is participating in this conversation, he is so plainly years younger than Jordan.

"There is the old city," Eric says consideringly.

"But father, visiting the old city will bring the wraith," Jinto pipes up again.

Eric shares a look with Jordan, and under other circumstances Zhenya would be more interested to understand how this leadership structure worked.

"Old city could have power source," he suggests, trying to balance between asking and insisting.

"We have not visited the old city in a long time," Jordan says finally. "I can take you to see it. No, Jinto, you cannot come with us."

Therrien sends Lt. Talbot back to the gate to check in with Dr. Martin, and stays with Sergeant Adams and Lt. Bortuzzo at the settlement.

In the old city, Zhenya finds an old necklace that had belonged to Jordan as a boy - although Zhenya imagines he must mean from when he was a very small boy, being little more than one right now. The walls of the tunnel show the other half to the Ancient's museum exhibit, the wraith coming again and again to cull their human crop. Before Zhenya can get a hold on how he feels faced with this, a whine rends the air.

"The wraith!" Jordan snaps. "We must move quickly."

The wraith have their own spaceships, because that's just the day that Zhenya is having. When they make it back to the settlement, Talbot is trying to shoot one down while Eric tries to corral everyone. The panic is impressively well-managed, but that doesn't matter to the wraith.

They still take people, grabbing Eric, and Jordan, and Therrien, and Adams all, and some more of the Athosians besides. “Talbot, memorize gate symbols!”

The wraith ships disappear through the gate. He and Jinto are left standing over the severed arm of a wraith, still trying to grope its way toward them like something out of a zombie movie. He shoots it up as much for his sake as for Jinto's.

The only thing to do is gather up the Athosians and go back through the gate to Atlantis. The welcome, if Zhenya had really thought about it, is not what he had expected. Everyone is in a panic, alarms are going off, and Dr. Martin does not seem happy to see a bunch of new faces, not even when Zhenya tells him they know lots of other gate addresses.

Everything seems to be shaking, like the whole building is going to come down around them. Sid emerges out of the crowd, his "excuse me" on repeat as he shoves past people, Expedition members and Athosians alike.

"Zhenya," he says, and he looks stricken.

"Sid," and his stupid P90 and tac vest are in the way. If they're all about to drown because the power is finally failing to keep up the shield, he isn't dying until he's at least held Sid again.

Sid gets the idea, helping get the tac vest unzipped and stepping into his arms. The fear that this is _it_ is nearly paralyzing, he can't bring himself to do more than press his face against Sid's hair.

It's just as well, because the rumbling quickly becomes movement and then sunlight is streaming through the high arched windows of the Atlantis gate room for the first time in 10,000 years. The force of the city rising through the ocean knocks them off their feet.

Sid stares at the windows for a moment before scrambling up and running to the consoles near the DHD. "It looks like they programmed in a failsafe - if there wasn't enough power left to maintain the shield, it raises the city and drops the shield."

"So we're exposed on the surface?" Talbot asks, looking almost comically alarmed.

"Better than drowning, Talbo," Sid says absently, still doing something with the console. "At least this is one problem solved."

"But we do have another," Dr. Martin interjects, giving Zhenya a look that makes all his feathers ruffle. He follows Dr. Martin outside and tries not to get distracted by the view.

"They take our people, I go after. Not a negotiation, with you." He thinks for a minute. "Probably not a negotiation with them, either. They _eat people_ , Paul."

Dr. Martin ultimately only agrees because Sid figures out the gate address, and brings Zhenya upstairs to show him the _spaceships_ that someone had found earlier. The day has already been more than mildly terrifying, but these ships, which seems to read his mind even more easily than any of the other Ancient technology he’s used, are exactly the kind of thing Sid had promised him they would find on the other side of the gate.

Lt. Talbot turns out to want to name everything, from the ship to the handheld device on the ship’s wall that it just casually reveals to them. “Not name things now, Talbo, can argue nicknames later,” Zhenya scowls at him, but his cheery seems undimmed.

To say the rescue mission doesn’t go as Zhenya wanted is a pretty huge understatement. He doesn’t manage to bring back his superior officer, is in fact required to kill him to save him from a worse fate at the hands of the terrifying people-eating space aliens that are now part of Zhenya’s life. Worse, these terrifying people-eating space aliens are apparently only a small portion of their overall population, which Zhenya has now accidentally woken from hibernation after killing the one who had had her way with Col. Therrien. One Athosian was also eaten by the wraith, but they are able rescue everyone else and get back to Atlantis without losing anyone else.

At the end of the day Dr. Martin thinks they all need to unwind to keep morale up, but it’s hard to feel like celebrating. Zhenya is dead on his feet, eager to pretend the entire day hadn’t even happened.

“You find quarters?” He asks Sid, trying not to lean too obviously against him. 

“Yeah, I found some adjoining ones. I think maybe they were meant to be like, an in-law suite? Or something? The furniture is pretty weird. I think the Ancients must have been tiny tiny people, the beds are so small.” Zhenya frowns. This sounds like bad news, news that means he can’t just fall into a bed. “Don’t worry, I have plans to fix that.”

“Save my bed with science?”

“Oh yeah, all my years of mechanical engineering will be put to the test repurposing Ancient furniture parts into a bed fit for someone over 6 feet.”

***

**Part 3: Sid & Geno**

"Army, why couldn't you give this to me before? It would have made research at the outpost a lot easier." Sid doesn't really like needles, but shots are at least better than blood draws. And it will certainly be helpful to have the Ancient gene himself.

Army folds the sleeve of Sid's shirt up his bicep. "Well, Sid, shockingly FDA regulations and classified research don't mix super great. But somehow neither of those apply in this _other galaxy_."

Sid rolls his eyes. "This better not fuck me up, Colby."

"You aren't the very first test subject, just the first human one." There is a literal cage of lab mice in the room; it’s sort of amazing to Sid that the SGC had been so relaxed about importing animals to _another galaxy_.

"That isn't as comforting as you think that is." But really, Sid has been a test case in a lot of ways over the course of his life, what’s one more time?

"I'm just glad Geno isn't here, looming over me, making me explain the ATA gene again ... god, he's right behind me isn't he?"

"Nope," Tanger says, clapping Army on the shoulder, "Just me."

Sid scowls. "Can we just get this over with? I wasn't really looking to have an audience."

Army laughs at him while he gives Sid the shot, but the shield device lights up in his within a few minutes. Army almost seems happier than he feels, chattering excitedly as he keeps Sid from leaving by running some diagnostics and writing up some notes.

****

The first few days after waking the wraith is mostly devoted to exploring the city. This means a surprising amount of paperwork: duty rosters for protective details (who the fuck knows what they're going to find, Zhenya isn't sending any scientists anywhere without some backup), sorting through applications for future gate teams and team leaders, coordinating with various departmental science heads about cataloging their findings, especially those with military applications, reviewing threat assessments or reports from the soldiers who have already gone out on protective details. Zhenya would never have thought being Ranking Military Officer would be so bureaucratic; he can't even imagine what Dr. Martin's paperwork load must be like.

As Chief Science Officer Sid has a fair amount of paperwork too, and he usually shows up at Zhenya's office to fill it out. 

Sitting there tapping away at his tablet and muttering about power flow rates, it's hard not to think about how he wants Sid on his gate team. But how is he going to convince Sid to agree? It'll take him out of the lab, away from his research, and probably regularly into danger. 

"You go on city exploration today?"

"Hhm? Oh, yeah, for sure. Probably after lunch? We're supposed to have a departmental heads meeting, divvy up the map a bit more. Tanger wants to get out of the gate room more I think, like it's already boring." Sid rolls his eyes at Zhenya. "He even showed up at my ATA therapy appointment this morning."

"You okay? Therapy work?"

"It did!" Sid's smile is so huge.

"You not need my gene, but maybe I come with you? Be your protective detail?" 

"Yeah?" And he looks so shyly pleased, like people don't just want to spend lots of extra time with him on a regular basis (which Zhenya knew wasn't true at all, Army and Flower were always looking for more of Sid's time).

"Of course, Sid. Spend extra time _and_ maybe protect from scary Ancient security measures?"

So after Sid's science staff meeting, he and Zhenya go down to ground level (or, base level? it isn't like their floating city was actually an island, but Zhenya isn't a geologist) to start the next sweep. It’s kind of chilly standing out on the pier, alien wind blowing Sid's hair back off his forehead, the not-quite-right smell of Lantean salt heavy in the air.

"We start here, or go out to section boundary first?"

Sid hums to himself, poking at the map on his tablet. "Between here and the section boundary is a big building whose purpose we couldn't figure out from the central database, let's do that first?"

Walking along the pier is novel, no soil beneath their feet until the seabed, but the city a humming, living thing between them and the ocean. From down here the spires of the central city seem to go up into the sky forever.

The building opens up smoothly when Sid taps the small glowing panel all doors in the city have so far had. Clearly this area remained unscathed when the shield had started to collapse; a lot of door are stuck or encrusted with salt.

If it was cold and bracing on the pier, it’s much colder inside the building.

"Like giant freezer, is food storage?" The hallway leads to a larger set of doors, and Zhenya moves cautiously toward them, regretting not bringing a heavier jacket.

Sid sniffs. "No? It smells familiar, like --"

And the doors open before them to reveal an ice rink. It did not look at all the way they did at home, Lantean architecture's signature style stamped all over the boards and glass, which nearly look ornamental.

There’s a console that Sid heads straight for, but Zhenya can't stop staring around, wondering about Ancient social life. Had this been for public skating? For practices? For games? The arrangement of spectator seats is surprising, rising up at an angle that means the stands are curved around the rink vertically, like the sky boxes are really floating.

"Zhenya, this says there should be something like skates in one of the storerooms!"

This is how Zhenya ends up chasing Sid around the rink, Sid’s ridiculous laugh ringing out and echoing in the weird, huge building. Zhenya tries to press Sid into the boards, operative word being try, because something repels him and he ends up sprawled on the ice staring up at Sid.

“Oh, weird.” Sid stares down, but not at Zhenya, rather at a glowing green brooch on the chest of his t-shirt.

Zhenya climbs to his feet and approaches more cautiously. “What?”

“It said it was like, a shield device? I don’t really know how it works, the Ancient database wasn’t very detailed.”

Zhenya reaches out, poking Sid’s chest, but his finger doesn’t go all the way, a shimmering force field springing up around the tip of his finger. Sid steps closer, and Zhenya tries to hug him, but the pressure of the shield expands until Zheny feels like there’s an entire canyon between them.

Sid’s face looks conflicted, but then it clears. “We should test it out! See what its limits are!”

“Like experiment?”

“Yeah, we can set up experimental conditions and take notes, make that Ancient database entry suck less!”

By the time they’ve escalated beyond a variety of skating related attacks, the shield is still holding steady. As they head back into the central spire, Sid starts trying to convince him they should try things that are frankly completely alarming.

“I’m not shoot you, Sid! What if the shield fails?”

“But it clearly isn’t going to, Zhenya. Ooh, or, we could push me off the balcony in the gate room, that’s a pretty high drop.”

“No.”

“But it would be --”

"No."

In the gate room Sid does convince Dr. Downie to punch him in the face, but the shield holds up and it’s a lot worse for Downie’s hand than Sid’s face. 

Zhenya would have been pretty happy if the worst part of his day was Sid trying to convince him to do something reckless and unnecessary to test the shield, but instead they both end up having to do reckless but all too necessary things trying to deal with the weird power monster Jinto manages to release. This sort of thing is exactly why Zhenya has protective details for the scientist; maybe he needs to assign some for the all the Athosian children, who are clearly better at both discovery and mischief-making than the scientists.

In the end, Zhenya has to add more nuclear radiation exposure to his tally and Sid has to burn out the shield throwing a naquadah generator through the gate. It isn’t a very fun end to the day, kneeling over Sid afterwards, hoping he wakes up. That Sid does wake up, and lets Zhenya chivvy him to the infirmary for Army to look over, and then, with a clean bill of health, follows Zhenya back to their adjoining quarters, is a much better ending.

***

A week later they’re alone in the ready room, Jordy and Talbo already geared up and off talking to Tanger. It’s a room a lot like any locker room Zhenya has ever been in, even though they've added very little to the room off the jumper bay to make it useful for offworld missions; he guesses maybe the Ancients had put it to similar use.

Sid is struggling with his sidearm holster, but when he finishes, he drifts over to Zhenya. Sid ducks up under the brim of Zhenya's cap, pressing a kiss to Zhenya's jaw, the dimple next to his mouth, and the tip of his nose. Zhenya turns his face into Sid's, mouth open on a smile. Sid licks into his mouth, along his teeth. He puts a hand on Zhenya's shoulder, their fingers tangling together. “What you doing?” Zhenya whispers against his mouth. “Need to get ready.”

“I know,” Sid whispers back. “I just couldn’t help myself.” For that Zhenya has to bite at Sid’s lips, and kiss him more deeply. But they really do have a mission soon, and they really do need to not get caught, so he forces himself to pull away.

Later, when he’s laying deliriously on the floor in the back of the jumper with a huge motherfucking bug on his neck, the feeling in his lower body fading, Zhenya wishes he’d lingered more. Everyone is freaking out, Bennett and Bortuzzo are apparently dematerialized, Sid is clearly on the verge of completely losing his shit. He’s on the radio, and Zhenya can hear the rising pitch of his voice even if he can’t focus well enough to really understand what Sid is saying.

The sounds of Jordy, Sid and Talbo wash over him, and he can hear Dr. Martin and Flower’s voices through the radio at various points. The pain is pretty intense, but different than anything Zhenya has previously experienced. He guesses there must be a nerve agent, that it isn’t just blood constriction making him lose feeling in his extremities.

The sounds of Jordy, Sid, and Talbo arguing amongst themselves wash over him, and he can hear Dr. Martin's voice through the radio at various points talking them down. The pain is pretty intense, but different than anything Zhenya has previously experienced. He guesses there must be a nerve agent, that it isn’t just blood constriction making him lose feeling in his extremities.

They try everything - water, iodine, they try cutting it off, apparently back on the planet they had tried shooting it off. Every thing they try sends excruciating pain through him, and even as the numbness progresses new attempts hurt just as much. Zhenya comes to at one point, to the sound of screaming, only to realize it's him screaming. Sid looks like he wants to be sick, his face pinched and miserable as he looks at Zhenya. He's starting to lose hope, Zhenya thinks, for getting the bug off his neck, for getting them through the gate. 

"Sid," and Zhenya's voice sounds terrible to his own ears. Sid meets his gaze, still looking wrecked, but his expression hardens, and he goes back to work.

Army's voice comes over the radio at times, Flower's at others. Through it all Zhenya can just see the blue blur of Sid tearing the jumper apart trying to find the right sequence to manually retract the pods. He thinks, well, they need to try something, maybe something extreme, if Army is right about the bug and the event horizon.

"Use paddles, stop heart, bug think I'm dead, give up." Talbot goes to get the defibrillator out of the first aid kit, and Jordy starts tearing his shirt open, but Sid does not look happy.

He opens the bulk head doors, and he hovers while Talbot puts the paddles to his chest. The last thing he sees is Sid's worried, drawn face.

When he wakes up next time, he's still in the back of the jumper, but the rear hatch is open and Army and his medical team are leaning over him. Sid's worried, drawn face floats into view, upside down about Zhenya's head. The relief he sees makes it all feels real, like he really is going to be okay.

In the infirmary, Sid won't leave, chasing off the orderlies who bring in scrubs for Zhenya to wear. He pulls the curtains shut and herds Zhenya toward the bed. Sid carefully pulls the scrub shirt down, taking special care passing the huge bandage on Zhenya's neck. He makes Zhenya lean on him when he changes into the scrub pants, his face still kind of wrecked. Zhenya doesn't know what to think. The relief of not being dead, of not being pain anymore is extremely profound, and it's hard to grasp the larger picture that all their lives were in danger. Sid doesn't really seem to be grasping that either, if the shaking hands that push Zhenya into the hospital bed are anything to go by.

Zhenya wakes up again later, the faint beeping of infirmary machines and the murmur of voices in the distance filtering in. His hand feels heavy and for a moment he can't understand why, but when he moves it he finds the shape of Sid's cheek.

"Hey." Sid stirs, but doesn't sit up, cheek still cradled in Zhenya's hand.

"Hey," Sid says, and when he smiles it changes his face completely. He pulls Zhenya's hand off the bed and holds it against his face.

"You keep promise," Zhenya says, smiling back.

"I did?"

"Big danger, save me with science." Sid's eyes go glassy, and tears drip onto Zhenya's hand onto Sid's smile. He climbs up into the hospital bed, basically on top of Zhenya, and presses his face into Zhenya's neck. He can feel the wet warmth of Sid's tears soaking into his scrub shirt and the pillow behind him. He tightens his arms around Sid, and murmurs Russian nonsense into his ear. The curtains are still closed around the bed, and the light is low, and Sid's breathing slowly evens out as Zhenya runs a hand along his back.

Sid mumbles something into Zhenya's throat. "Hhmm?"

"I said, you can't go on missions without me, I have to be on your gate team." His eyes are bright and a little crazy, and but Zhenya wanted Sid to be on his gate team, so he has no objections.

"Good, always there to save me with science" he says, and kisses the crown of Sid's head, his cheek, and then his mouth. "And when Army let me out, we try new bed you make with science."

**Author's Note:**

> Additional warnings: Semi-graphic descriptions of pain, borderline child labour, minor character death, reference to child endangerment.


End file.
